In the last number of years there has been a boom in the creation of new computer languages. Some might wonder why we need so many new languages but one thing I have found is that software developers can be very passionate about software languages.
Another gratifying trend is the ‘almost natural’ step for language communities to provide tooling support based 0n Eclipse. One of the highlights at EclipseCon 2012 is the opportunity to learn and see the support being developed for many of these languages. A quick summary of the language support you can see at EclipseCon 2012:
Dart is a new web programming language being developed at Google. Some see Dart as a structured version of JavaScript or even a JavaScript replacement. Dart in Action is a session led by Dan Rubel from Google who is working on a Dart Editor based on Eclipse
Lua might not be a new language but it certainly seems to be gaining momentum, especially in the embedded and M2M industry. Lua tooling on steroids will demonstrate the current status of the Eclipse Koneki project which aims to provide a first-class Lua IDE.
Ceylon is a new JVM based language, developed at RedHat, positioned as a language for writing large programs in a team environment. Ceylon – the language and its tools should give a nice overview of the new language and the tools they have built based on Eclipse.
Xtend is another new JVM language being developed at Eclipse. In the session Eclipse Xtend – A Language for Java Developers, Sven Efftinge will be introducing Xtend to the EclipseCon attendees.
JavaScript is not a new language but the support being provided by Orion is new. There is a session and tutorial on Orion that will educate anyone interested in the future of JavaScript and web tooling at Eclipse.
If you want to learn about new languages and their tools, then EclipseCon 2012 will have be a great place to be.
